The Difference a Lifestyle Can Make: The Life of an Average Player

Where do you think Kobe and Lebron are right now? They are probably doing suicides and shooting jump shots till their arms fall off.

Where do you think Stephon Marbury is? He is probably sitting half naked in front of his webcam showing off what little dignity he has left.

The mere fact that one made it to the NBA simply is not good enough anymore. With acceptance into the league comes much more than money and fast cars. There comes a whole different lifestyle for the majority of the players.

Do you ever wonder where players such as Latrell Sprewell and Stephon Marbury have gone? I'm guessing you don't care.

Just a couple of years ago Latrell Sprewell was offered a multi-million dollar deal. He told the interested team that it was not enough to feed his family, so he left it as though it were a stray dog laying out in the rain.

His lifestyle had screwed up his life up so bad that he could not think straight anymore.

Stephon Marbury, on the other hand, took whatever chances he had left and to some degree, he did the best he could (And to no surprise he was not as good as he use to be.)

Even after playing for a contender, the Boston Celtics, Marbury could not escape the trap he had created for himself.

After the one season with the Boston Celtics Stepon Marbury, went back into retirement, if you call it that and started his own "web cam show."

How pathetic can one get? How desperate can one get? Obviously the millions they are earning just aren't enough.

This may sound crazy but I do not fully blame them for their actions. I'm willing to bet that they came from a broken home and had a tough upbringing. This is not being stereotypical, it is being realistic. I mean how many NBA, NFL, MLB players have come from these types of situations? Too many.

The problem for most of these people are, they have survived the worst of their troubles in life, in a sense, by making it to the big leagues, but they have a even harder time adapting to this so called better life.

What happens to a kid when all a parent does is spoil them to death with everything they want? The kid cannot adapt to society and to reality. Well, it's the same for these players. NBA, NFL, or MLB does not matter.

I can understand to a certain level of what these players are going through. When someone like Latrell Sprewell came into the NBA he probably had a basketball, a pair of Nike's and some loose change.

How is a man supposed to deny all the temptations and all the freedom the NBA offers? In a sense these types of people are set up to fail.

It is almost impossible for someone like Sprewell to manage his money and family when he can take baths in money and drive Lamborghini's.

Honestly, I still frown upon these people but I have decided to try and understand them.

In one way they are role models of what not to do. If I am ever lucky enough to be in their position, I will at least know what not to do and I think everyone else out there should try and do the same.

Cherish whatever you have, whether it be a little or a lot. You never know what you have until it is gone.

Now although, it may sound as though I ignore their actions, I am not done talking yet.

I still laugh at these "morons" every time I hear any words about them. I mean how can one not laugh at a fully grown man sitting in front of his web cam all day shooting videos of himself half naked in his house?! That is the biggest nonsense I have ever heard.

This just shows how God's gifts can be thrown away like a rotten apple.

No one wakes up one day and says, "I am going to throw my life away today." No one does such a thing. It is a life long habit and it can either develop into a healthy lifestyle or it can become a lifestyle similar to Latrell Sprewell where one cannot even feed his own family while having five sports cars 100 ft away.

"Keep dreaming and keep your head up, never give up on your dreams but when your on top don't look down cause you never know if you might fall back down."